Johannesburg – The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) was “underwhelmed” by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s mini budget. “The message from the minister had few details on planned changes to fiscal policies, and where details were given it was on peripheral matters like austerity measures for senior government officials,” Sacci CEO Neren Rau said in a statement on Wednesday. However, he said Gordhan could be commended for his emphasis on pragmatic economic policy and priorities, on the National Development Plan and investment, and on the fact that a growing economy was critical to government activities. Sacci welcomed comments about the country’s credit rating and government debt, and the commitment to reduce the fiscal deficit. “Much work still needs to be done to present South Africa as an investor-friendly destination,” Rau said. “Fundamentally, the fiscal deficit can only decrease if government spending is cut in a big way, which implies Read More …
Author: Nyasha Musviba
Budget too good to be true – opposition parties
Cape Town – Mixed reaction greeted the country’s mini budget framework, with opposition parties saying they were discouraged and the ruling party expressing satisfaction. The MPs spoke to reporters on the steps of the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan tabled the mini budget. Democratic Alliance MP Tim Harris said the speech was full of reassuring rhetoric, but not nearly bold enough in tackling serious economic problems. “He speaks a lot about backing the NDP [National Development Plan], but then doesn’t table any of the practical measures that the NDP talks about, like active labour market policies, labour reform and removing trade barriers,” Harris said. “Without that action, I don’t think we’re going to make progress on stimulating growth, and currently we are growing at about two percent and this is half the rate of Turkey, Chile and Malaysia.”
Gordhan's mid-term budget speech fulfils prophecies
Gordhan’s mid-term budget speech fulfils prophecies During his medium-term budget policy speech Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan kept the rhetoric upbeat and SA’s purse strings tight, as expected. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan before the medium-term budget policy speech at Parliament in Cape Town. (David Harrison, M&G) Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s medium-term budget policy speech delivered in Parliament on Wednesday was the fulfilment of a general prophecy: he kept the rhetoric upbeat and the purse strings tight. This is the last medium-term budget speech to be heard before the 2014 elections.
Tax Admistration Act – Jurisdiction of the courts
When litigating against SARS, it is of critical importance that the taxpayer institute proceedings in the proper forum. In this regard, an important question arises as to which issues are justiciable in the Tax Court and which in the High Court. A wrong decision by the taxpayer and his advisers may have the consequence that time limits to bring proceedings in the correct court have expired, and that the taxpayer is left without a remedy.
Tax Adminstration Act No 28 of 2011 – Tax Litigation
Tax litigators will now have to consider, inter alia, the impact of certain provisions under the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (the TAA) as amended by the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act No. 21 of 2012 on the doctrine of legal professional privilege and a recent judgment reflecting the view of a court with regards to the adherence to the rules of the Tax Court by the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
International Tax – Mutual Assistance between South Africa and UK DTA
In the recent case of Ben Nevis (Holdings) Limited & Metlika Trading Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) [2013] EWCA, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales considered the interpretation of the mutual assistance provisions in the double tax agreement (DTA) between the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA).
Binding Ruling – BPR 143 – Headquarter company
Binding Private Ruling 143, dated 2 May 2013, issued in terms of section 76Q of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 (the Act), deals with whether certain preference shares held by the applicant (a public company incorporated and resident in South Africa) qualify as equity shares in the context of the definition of headquarter company in section 1 of the Act.
Carbon Tax – Preparing for the tax
The carbon tax to be introduced on 1 January 2015 is the biggest change to the South African tax landscape since the introduction of capital gains tax in 2001. Households and businesses will all be affected to some extent. The time from now until January 2015 is when businesses have to come to terms with, and devise a strategy for, the impact that a carbon tax may have on their operations.
Carbon Tax – Key design features
On 27 February 2013 the Minister of Finance announced that a carbon tax will be introduced with effect from 1 January 2015. He also announced that a carbon tax policy paper would be published that will contain the details for the carbon tax. That policy paper was published on 2 May 2013. This article contains the key design features of the carbon tax as set out in the policy paper.
South Africa Tax Statistics 2013
Author: SARS Legal and Policy The National Treasury and SARS jointly publish tax statistics annually. These aggregated statistics are compiled from SARS’s registers of taxpayers and from tax returns. These statistics complement other published social and economic data. The statistics are finding wide use within government, business, academia and non-governmental organisations.